The Influence of RFID/ EPC Technology on Packaging Industry (II)

3.1 The Role of RFID/EPC Technology in Packaging

The purpose of packaging is to protect products, convey product information, and stimulate sales of products. RFID/EPC technology can help people quickly identify goods and track goods, so it plays a very important role in the field of commodity circulation. Because RFID tag technology is applied in the packaging process, this technology has attracted widespread attention in the packaging industry. The RFID/EPC technology is at an early stage in China, but its development potential is huge, and it will change the traditional application of barcode packaging technology:

1) The traditional bar code labeling machine, labeling machine and read/write equipment will be changed, and the above-mentioned traditional bar code equipment will be changed to the production, pasting and reading/writing equipment of RFID tags.

2) Improve the efficiency of management of packaged finished products. The application of bar code packaging technology can only identify one item at a time, and radio frequency identification can identify multiple items at a long distance, and can monitor packaging products in near real-time, so that the efficiency of packaging product management can be improved.

3) to extend the concept of packaging, that is, packaging in addition to the need to protect the product, convenient transportation, aesthetics, etc., but also need to create general information before the RFID tag and multimedia information required for sales. From this, it can be seen that RFID/ EPC technology has brought about tremendous changes in the packaging field. In the near future, RFID/ EPC technology will make packaging technology more informative and management more efficient [3].

3.2 Application of RFID/ EPC in Packaging

In the circulation of goods, it is usually stored. The use of RFID/ EPC technology can realize the informatization of warehouse management and the automation of commodity allocation. The reader/writer is installed on the shelf, and it can detect the product variety, location and quantity according to the RFID tag attached to the product package. The information reader is connected to the computer network, and the computer can control the stacking according to the received information. Machines, forklifts, picking trucks, etc. work automatically. The use of RFID tags has accelerated the speed of order processing and reduced the picking error rate.

In addition, the use of RFID/EPC technology also creates conditions for the automatic processing of waste packaging recycling. Since the packaging chip contains the material information of the packaging, the sorting machine of the waste recycling bin can respond to different information read by the reader. Waste packaging is automatically sorted.

In short, the use of RFID tags on packaging is of great importance to protecting the interests of businesses, distributors and consumers, reducing costs, and promoting sales. Many domestic companies have realized the important value of RFID tags and started to produce and use RFID tags. At present, the main problem with the promotion of this tag is its high cost and it can only be used on the packaging of some valuable commodities. Now many international and domestic companies and scientific research departments are committed to developing low-cost RFID tags. Experts estimate that the price of RFID tags will be reduced to acceptable levels within five years. As its costs continue to decrease, the role of RFID tags will also be fully utilized in the packaging field.

4 Conclusion

Since the application of RFID/EPC technology is a large-scale system engineering involving RFID chips, reading equipment, networks, system security, radio frequency and product packaging design, relevant government agencies, industry organizations, application parties, and suppliers are required. The cooperation and common promotion of the media. Only in this way can RFID/EPC technology play an important role in the packaging logistics industry.

Author: Geng Xue Fei (Harbin University of Commerce)

Source: Packaging Engineering, Issue 3, 2005